WhitewaterPDLR: New Boat and Flood Stage Kayaking in New York

Last week..I drove to Beachburg to see Billy Harris and pick up a 2010 Jackson Superstar from him.
Took it out to Champlain Bridge for a test and its a TOTALLY different boat than the older model... I didnt really spend the time setting it for me and the wave was flushy and slow and it was a bummer... I removed the foam that Billy added under the seat to sit higher an inch...Sitting higher makes it less stable, yet easier to switch edges when throwing air moves...And i dont do them yet sooo...

CJ and I were keeping an eye on the levels on the Black River in NY... Water was climbing almost half a feet an hour...We thought about heading down when we saw them at 12 000 cubic feet per second... We left saturday morning with some friends and didnt bother checking the gauge at all... We got there to a Black River in flood stage at 18 500 + cfs... From the road at the top of the canyon..waves and boils looked smaller lets say.... Inner City Strife, the wave we came down for wasnt really in...It was big and was greening out and had no eddy access... So we drove upstream to check out Hole brothers... a play hole that forms at low water but gets Huge at high water... We got there and found that the hole was as wide as the hole river... Big Brother was in but Real trashy...Its the river right side if the hole...Kinda like a Buseater wave that needs a towrope to get in....And little brother was sweet.. a smaller version of this... You can still get trashed around...

We hiked a kilometer upstream to put in and run a section of the rapid that looked small from up the road... The put in was a Boily eddy like the ones at coliseum when the water is high...with Nasty undercut rocks along the Canyon walls and whirlpools so it was basically, Drop In, Dont mess up and paddle the hell out of there into the current.. We eddied out behind what is usually an island and played in a wave we spoted from shore... It was big and bouncy like Garb but smaller! I eddied out to far and got stuck on the eddy line and in the whirlpools for a minute or two and paddled out and got recirculated back to the top of the eddy...Stayed there for a few minutes and put my seat an inch forward as I rode my stern pretty much the hole time... Filmed the guys a bit, wateched them dodge debris like whole trees, Ice chunks, basketballs,Board with nails, propane tanks and whatever the hell got into the river... went for a surf and headed down to Hole Brothers...
On the way down was a massive wavetrain... like the Normans on the Ottawa but bigger... when your down at the bottom of the wave you cant see whats coming... punched a big reactionary wave and I got too far right... Heading straight for the Massive Hole that you do not wanna be in... CJ was yelling for me to paddle left and I couldnt understand him...Lets say I did when I saw the hole... managed to make it to the left side and punched Little Bro Hole and the one behind it to eddy out and wait for the others... The boil line again flipped me over...tried to roll on my good side but I was against the canyon wall...tried my offside but the current ripped my paddle out of my hands...At this point I was getting my head smacked against the rocks because the eddy was pulling me back to the top and into the rock shelf... I then pulled the shirt and held on to the wall...I could feel that there was nowhere to rest my feet and that the rock I was holding on was undercut kinda... my paddle was getting recirculated into the eddy and the current and boils were pulling me away from the wall and into the eddy again and so on...I managed to make it to a calm spot and get out of the water... That was the ned of the day for me... my shoulder was sore, my belly and nostrils full of water and I was exhausted..

Filmed the boys for a bit and went for dinner and beers... Out of my bootie of course... Awesome day. This was definately a big water run..the biggest for me so far but Id do it all over again without a hangover and a good nights sleep next time... Here are some pics..

The New Boat